Sunday, September 1, 2019

Great-Great-Grandma's Dutch Apple Cake

This dutch apple cake recipe has been in my family for generations. It is a simple cake topped with apples and plenty of golden topping. It is great as a coffee cake at breakfast, for an afternoon treat or as a simple dessert. You can take it straight from my great-great grandma's recipe box and put it into yours!

This simple vintage cake base is covered with fresh apples and plenty of buttery golden crumble topping. It is easy to whip up and is perfect served any time of the day. It is a great way to treat your family or perfect for impressing guests. It is no wonder it has been a favorite in our family for so many generations!

This recipe is straight from the recipe box of my Great-Grandma's mom. My family usually serves it as a breakfast cake, like a coffee cake.

It would also be a great tea time treat. My grandparents used to make a bunch of these up in the fall when they had a lot of apples and freeze them for the rest of the year. What a great way to use the harvest and have that autumn taste all year long!

The original instructions that came with the recipe left a few holes. Here they are in their entirety:

Put dough in pan, then press apples into the dough.

Rub sugar, flour and butter into crumbs and sprinkle on top of dough and apples.

Bake slowly in a moderate oven.

I have to admit, I almost broke out the old stand mixer. I rely on that thing pretty heavily and pull it out of the pantry whenever I get the chance.

But, that seemed untrue to the recipe. My guess is that my great-great-grandma didn't have a nice stand mixer.

Great-great-grandma and Great-Great-Grandpa Langhorst

So, I went after it with nothing but a bowl and spatula. It was kind of fun.

I baked the cake in a 9" cast iron skillet because I thought it seemed right. However, you don't have to bake it in a skillet. This recipe would work in any round cake pan or 8x8 pan etc.

This cake is an excellent coffee cake. The cake itself has a moist, slightly dense crumb like you'd expect from a breakfast cake.

It's almost like a shortcake cake with thick batter and good rise. The apple retain just bit of crunch and the topping adds a little crunch as well.

The contrast in texture and light flavor will have you clamoring for another slice. Plus it is fun to serve something to my little guy that is 3xgreat-grandma made. That is a lot of greats!

Update: I originally made this recipe very early in 2015. In fact it was during the first month of collecting and sharing recipes.

I shared it and that quickly inspired my mom, grandma and a cousin to all bake dutch apple cakes that weekend. It was a lot of fun!

I thought it was time to come back and refresh the post a little bit with a video and printable recipe card. I hope you enjoy it!

Adaptations to the original recipe:

Not surprisingly, I suppose, the original recipe did not call for vanilla extract. I like to add a little because it feels so strange to bake without it. It is delicious either way.

Over the past few years we have tried this base recipe with a number of different fruits. One of our favorites is the peach breakfast cake, but the blueberry cake is fabulous as well!

There is something really nice about the simplicity of this recipe. However, I think it would also be great with a half teaspoon (or a bit more!) of cinnamon mixed into the streusel topping.

If you are adding cinnamon, why not a little brown sugar too? Substitute half of the sugar in the topping with brown sugar for a warmer flavor profile.

Storing your dutch apple cake:

As with most cakes, this is best when it is fresh. It can be stored loosely covered on the counter for a few days. We like to warm up the leftover slices in the microwave a bit to ensure they are soft and delicious.

As I mentioned above, my grandparents used to bake up a bunch of these during the fall and freeze them. Just wrap them well to keep air and freezer smells out and then freeze them to up to several months.

You could also freeze individual slices. Just wrap them tightly and freeze them for up to several months.

More vintage recipes that have been in my family for generations:

Great grandmas on both sides of my family were known for making wonderful scalloped corn. Their recipes were slightly different, but the results were both delicious. This simple but tasty side dish still makes an appearance on our table every so often and my grandpa often requests it.

Frozen fruit salad is still a holiday staple with my dad's family. It is a creamy, cool change of pace to a big holiday meal. It is a perfect make ahead recipe that is our little way of keeping great grandma a part of the party.

Great grandma was also known for having a jello salad on the table, I suppose that may be a sign of the times! This green jello salad was a favorite and Little Dude has taken a liking to it and not requests it.

My great grandma on my mom's side made a fabulous apple crisp with no added sugar. The recipe is simple but absolutely delicious. Of course we love ours with a little vanilla ice cream, but it is fabulous on its own too.

DUTCH APPLE CAKE REChttps://youtu.be/XRQ-xtTllv0This delicious dutch apple cake comes from my great-great-grandma's recipe box. It is great for breakfast, amazing with tea, perfect for a simple dessert with a scoop of ice cream as well. It comes together easily and is a cozy piece of sweet fall heaven.https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gDUmM2GeKRU/XsWzbOFmpNI/AAAAAAAA96Q/JMWD218e-u82oal89fNr6gc_muZ_Tn8SgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/dutch%2Bapple%2Bcake%2Bthumb.jpg8/30/2019

Yield: 12 servings

Author: Cooking With Carlee

Great-Great-Grandma's Dutch Apple Cake

This cake recipe has been in my family for generations. It is a simple cake topped with apples and plenty of golden topping. It is great as a coffee cake at breakfast, for an afternoon treat or as a simple dessert. You can take it straight from my great-great grandma's recipe box and put it into yours!

Prep time: 15 MCook time: 45 MTotal time: 60 M

Ingredients:

Cake

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla (not in my grandma's recipe, but I like to add it)

2-3 apples, cored and thinly sliced or diced (grandma's recipe says 6 apples, but I think she was using smaller homegrown apples. Use enough to cover the top of your batter)

Topping

3/4 cup sugar

2 T flour

2 T butter

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a 9" cake pan or cast iron skillet

Mix together butter and sugar.

Add the egg and mix until smooth.

Pour in milk and combine.

Mix together flour, salt and baking powder. Fold into wet ingredients until incorporated.

Spread into greased pan.

Top with apples, lightly pressing into batter.

Mix sugar, flour and butter in small bowl until it is coarse and crumbly.

Spread over top of apples.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes back mostly clean.

We decided that the topping would be more of a crumble topping if I had used a smaller pan. If you want to use a large pan like I did, I would recommend doubling the topping recipe or end up with a crunchy glazed topping like mine (you won't hear any complaints)!

Argh! I wish I'd had this recipe when my parents were visiting, my dad would love it! I might have to make it for them when I go out to Oregon next 😀 I've always heard that coffee cake is better made by hand because it results in a softer crumb, your grandma would be proud!

It really is easy enough to make by hand, I had just been in the habit of pulling out the mixer so it seemed odd not too! Lately I have been loving making things by hand when possible. I hope you do make this for your dad. I always love making it as I know there is a lot of family history wrapped up in it!

I love the history of this recipe! I was just going through some of my grandma's recipes the other day, and like you said, there are a few holes in them! Definitely need to try your recipe once we get in a trip to the orchard!

Thank you for the lovely photos and notes, including those about the history of the recipe!! I have a couple trees and have been looking for new options!! Have you ever tried adding cinnamon or nutmeg, etc as variances?Tamara

Only me again. Just made this and half of it's gone already. My daughter says it's the nicest cake she's had in a long time (thanks, daughter of mine!). I did add a grating of nutmeg to the topping, only because I like nutmeg and apple.

The cake was superb, nice and homely. Can't wait to try the peach one sometime!

I'm impressed that you didn't break out your mixer. I know that I would have. I love this old fashioned apple cake. One of my favorite things when cooking, is making a family treasured recipe. I love that I have the blog so my children have these old fashioned family recipes. Thank you for sharing this recipe and congratulations on updating it, especially the video!